When Ge Xiaozhu returned to Xu Family Village, she could already sense something was different the moment she entered the village.
She couldn't quite say how it was different.
She just felt that it was.
From time to time, villagers who saw her would greet her.
"Xiaozhu, you're back?"
"Hey, Xiaozhu, your Xiaodao is something else! Never thought he had it in him."
"You really gave birth to a good son!"
…
And so on.
When she stepped into her yard, she suddenly heard clucking sounds coming from the chicken coop in the corner.
Ever since their chickens and ducks had been taken a few days ago, the coop had been completely silent. Hearing chickens again now, she froze for a moment and instinctively looked over.
Through the wooden slats of the coop, she clearly saw several chickens inside.
"Mom! You're back? You don't have to stay on flood duty tonight, right?"
Her daughter Ge Yuzhu's cheerful voice rang out. Ge Xiaozhu turned and saw her daughter running over happily.
"Where's your big brother?" Ge Xiaozhu asked anxiously.
Ge Yuzhu replied, "Big Brother's in the kitchen making soup! Old duck soup, hehe."
"Old duck soup?"
Ge Xiaozhu frowned and hurried toward the kitchen behind the house.
In fact, Xu Tongdao—who was tending the fire and simmering soup at the stove—had already heard his mother's voice. But he didn't go out to greet her.
He knew that once his mother came back, she would definitely have a lot of questions.
And he didn't like explaining things.
Years of hardship in his previous life had long shaped him into a man of few words. Unless necessary, he rarely spoke much.
He figured that if he delayed a bit, his sister would explain things to their mother first, sparing him some trouble.
Footsteps quickly reached the kitchen doorway.
His mother's voice followed.
"Xiaodao! Didn't I tell you before? If those things were taken, then so be it! Why wouldn't you listen? What if those people beat you? You foolish child!"
Xu Tongdao silently raised his head, his expression complicated as he looked at his mother—barely in her early forties.
His heart was filled with mixed emotions.
In his previous life, his mother had already been over sixty when she passed away.
By then, most of her hair had turned white, and her face was full of wrinkles.
The woman in front of him now looked older than others her age, but to Xu Tongdao, she was incomparably young.
Suppressing the ache in his heart, Xu Tongdao gave a faint smile and said calmly, "Mom, look—I'm fine, aren't I? Kind people get bullied, gentle horses get ridden. Our family is in a tough spot right now, but that's exactly when we can't back down. By the way, has your fever gone down?"
Ge Xiaozhu was a little surprised.
She felt that her eldest son seemed different today—his expression, his tone—like he'd suddenly grown up overnight.
She frowned, looked at him in confusion, sighed, and said, "But those people aren't easy to deal with. And you're only seventeen… Did they hit you?"
"Mom, don't worry! Big Brother's fine. He even beat up Xu Hengbing!" Ge Yuzhu said lightly, trying to reassure her.
That spared Xu Tongdao from having to explain.
"What? Xiaodao, you even fought Xu Hengbing? Could you really beat him?"
Ge Xiaozhu was shocked. She instinctively stepped forward, pulled Xu Tongdao up from by the stove, and carefully inspected him from head to toe.
Xu Tongdao didn't resist. He let his mother examine him, while he reached out and touched her forehead to check her temperature.
The moment he touched it, he frowned.
She was still running a fever.
"You really weren't hurt?" Ge Xiaozhu finally relaxed a bit, but still couldn't help asking.
Xu Tongdao nodded. "Mom, do you still have any fever medicine? Do you have to go back on flood duty this afternoon?"
Ge Xiaozhu replied, "I've finished the medicine, but I'm fine now. Um… I heard about what you did from Xiaoyu's father, so I asked the team leader for leave and came back. I'll have to head back soon—I can't make things difficult for the team leader."
Xiaoyu's father?
Xu Tongdao repeated it silently, then realized she meant Ge Zhiping, Ge Xiaoyu's father.
He had liked Ge Xiaoyu back then.
But thinking of her now, his heart was completely calm.
To him, that was something from a very long time ago.
In his previous life, even though his days were hard, he had liked several women over the years—and had even been married once.
As for Ge Xiaoyu, whom he'd liked in his youth, she was nothing more than a sealed memory.
Now that he was seventeen again, all he wanted was to lead his family out of hardship and give them a good life.
As for Ge Xiaoyu?
He had no interest in her now, nor did he think she mattered.
Xu Tongdao glanced at the steaming pot lid, thought for a moment, then pulled out a wad of money from his pocket. He took out two ten-yuan bills and handed them to his sister.
"Mom's fever hasn't gone down yet. Go to Doctor Wang's place and buy some medicine for her. And bring an umbrella—just in case it rains."
These days, medicine for fever or colds was cheap. Sometimes one fever-reducing pill was enough, and that only cost one or two yuan.
Twenty yuan was more than enough.
"Oh! No need to buy more medicine! Don't waste money like that—I'll be fine in a couple of days…"
Seeing her son give money to her daughter to buy medicine, Ge Xiaozhu immediately tried to stop him. But Xu Tongdao pushed her hand away and stuffed the money into Ge Yuzhu's hand, then tilted his head to signal her to hurry.
Ge Yuzhu glanced at their mother, answered softly, and ran off. As she left, she couldn't help glancing back at the thick wad of cash in her brother's hand.
She hadn't known before that her brother had so much money on him.
"Sigh…"
Unable to stop him, Ge Xiaozhu sighed. Then she noticed the stack of money in his hand—several hundred yuan at least.
"Xiaodao, where did you get so much money?"
"The two pigs that were taken couldn't be recovered, and some chickens and ducks were gone too. This is the money I got back instead."
As he spoke, Xu Tongdao looked down at the money, hesitated slightly, then counted out six hundred yuan and handed it to his mother.
"Mom, keep this six hundred. Use it for Xiaolu and Yuzhu's school enrollment fees."
Ge Xiaozhu instinctively accepted the money, then hesitated and asked, "What about you? Your middle school exam results should be coming out soon, right? What if you get into high school… the tuition…"
When it came to tuition, worry filled her expression.
Xu Tongdao smiled faintly, his expression calm.
"Mom, someone in this family has to go earn money. Just you alone—how could you support all three of us in school? Whether I get into high school or not, I'm not continuing my studies. In a few days, I'll find a way to go out and make money. From now on, I'll support Xiaolu and Yuzhu through school."
Ge Xiaozhu: "This…"
TL: If you want to read ahead by at least ten chapters, patreon.com/EdibleMapleSyrup